Featured Stories

TLD officially announces their New A1 All Mountain Helmet

Yesterday they teased us. Today, they’ve released it officially. The new Troy Lee Designs trail helmet is something fanboys have been clamoring for years. Many riders swear up and down that TLD creats the safest, most comfortable helmets on the market, and they’re more than willing to pay the premium for the product.

This helmet fills a long standing void in their heralded line up of downhill and dirt bike oriented products. The new A1 features an adjustable visor, strap dividers and adjusters, and a unique TLD adjustment retention system.

The helmet weighs just 320 grams, has met (or exceeded) CPSC standards and CE EN certifications, and appears to offer great coverage of the back of your head. The helmet will be available in XS-2XL.

You can pick yours up in Limited Edition Gold Metal Flake Cyclops for $185 or Black Cyclops for $165, starting February 4th. Price includes a TLD sticker kit and carry bag.

Hop past the break for more pictures, details, and video….To achieve the rad look, TLD has their factory place ultra thin decals over the shell before spraying the helmets with a clear coat.

The well padded whicking liner should make this helmet feel extremely comfortable.

Close up the “unique” TLD ratchet system. The A1 also has a three position head band adjustment so you can set the angle of the helmet in relation to your forehead.

Just a small reminder, this helmet is for the worlds fastest racers. The motto is emblazoned on the rear of both A1 colorways.

Strap management is an important part of getting that perfect fit.

The less gucci black color way will retail for twenty dollars less than the lemon lime safety edition.

The best feature is how far back the helmet extends down the back of the head. This is the kind of coverage I look for in a trail helmet.

“I first heard about the A1 project a year ago and have been eagerly awaiting it since. And the team at TLD did not disappoint. It fits like a glove, protects my dome better than any other trail lid, and looks as good as the rest of the Troy Lee helmet line. If I had to sum it up in one word? Dialed.” – Lars Sternberg, Transition Bikes/Enduro Racer

Want to learn more? You can read the full press release below.

Troy Lee Designs Introduces the New A1 All Mountain Helmet

TLD Headquarters – Corona, CA

30 years of riding. 3 years of design. 1 helmet of choice.

Troy Lee Designs is proud to officially introduce the newest addition to our growing line of bicycle specific helmets, the A1.

With the freeride, downhill and BMX helmet market cornered, Troy Lee Designs decided it was time to venture into new territory. Three years of research and design later, the team has developed a top of the line helmet for the XC/Enduro, Trail, and All Mountain rider.

Like all other TLD helmets, the A1 has undergone rigorous safety tests to ensure that it provides superior protection, exceeding CPSC standards and CE EN certifications, while still weighing an average of 320 grams and allowing for maximum ventilation.

Other features of the A1 helmet include an easily adjustable visor, strap dividers and adjusters, a unique adjustable TLD retention system, and anodized aluminum hardware.

Built with moto inspired components and world famous graphics, the A1 upholds the Troy Lee Designs iconic vision that has been a prevalent staple of the bicycle industry for years.

A limited first-run quantity of the helmet in Limited Edition Gold Metal Flake Cyclops ($185 MSRP) and Black Cyclops ($165 MSRP) Colorways will be available for purchase at www.troyleedesigns.com and at finer dealers worldwide beginning on February 4, 2013. The helmet will be available in XS-2XL.

A select group of media and Troy Lee Designs global distributors were recently given the opportunity to test the helmet on downhill and cross country rides with TLD athletes Cam Zink, Brandon Semenuk, Logan Peat, Aaron Gwin, Eliot Jackson, and Leigh Donovan. The outpour of praise about the new helmet could not have been better.

“I have more mountain bike trail riding in my roots than I do freeriding, so I have been wanting a TLD trail helmet forever! Really happy with how this A1 turned out, will be putting a lot of miles in with it.” – Cam Zink FMB Tour Hero

Coming from an XC background I understand the importance of a vented helmet and since I’ve moved into Freeride, I only trust a helmet with lots of coverage. The A1 gives me that light, breathable design with out being concerned with safety” – Brandon Semenuk 2X FMB World Champion

“I first heard about the A1 project a year ago and have been eagerly awaiting it since. And the team at TLD did not disappoint. It fits like a glove, protects my dome better than any other trail lid, and looks as good as the rest of the Troy Lee helmet line. If I had to sum it up in one word? Dialed.” – Lars Sternberg, Transition Bikes/Enduro Racer

“I have come full circle with Troy Lee Designs, I had one of those sweet Edge helmets in the early 90’s, with a TLD sticker kit! I have been wanting a helmet to ride in that was more protective than all the other helmets on the market, which are just glorified road helmets with a visor. I think we nailed it with the A1. We catered to the heart of the market, which is that mid to big travel trail rider, enduro rider, or even cross country rider, with a helmet that is extremely safe, elegant, stylish, light and built to last” – Craig “Stikman” Glaspell, Troy Lee Designs Sports Marketing

“The best feature is how far back the helmet extends down the back of the head. This is the kind of coverage I look for in a trail helmet.”

Is there any head injury research that supports extending the back edge of a helmet as an antidote to off-road injuries? If you look at the profile of a ‘normal’ (non-enduro or trail) helmet being worn, the helmet reaches its maximum rearward extension roughly where the human head does. This helmet (and other mtb helmets) curves back toward the head. For this added helmet area to be useful, the rider would have to impact specifically that two inches of exposed nuchal area.

@slippy–Many moons ago I stacked going down a steep trail, my bike followed behind me with the chainrings/crankarm crushing the back of my helmet and gashing my head/neck. I think having back of the head protection is a really smart idea–especially for us that don’t rock-out in a full moto helmet.

Maybe a next step in enduro/trail helmet design/marketing is including a skinny jaw bar, like ski slalom racers, or football kickers. Something just solid enough so you don’t bust your jaw too bad when you faceplant.

The few times I’ve crashed off road (bad ones, not counting the hundreds of minor ones) I went completely over, and landed mostly on my back/hydration backpack, even breaking a lower back vertebra once. Rear of the head seems less vulnerable, but the out-of-control chainrings are sure scary!

i get the xc/am/trail lid part of the market but doesn’t enduro require full-face specifically because it’s timed dh runs? if you need more protection for the back of your head chances are you’ll need/want just as much for the front of your face, right?

As per usual the s**t talkers come out of the woodwork. The prices don’t seem too different from the premium offerings from Giro, Specialized, etc. I don’t think Troy Lee is after the $60 helmet market, it wouldn’t suit their image.
The graphics don’t really seem that over the top compared to some of Troy Lee’s other helmets. The usual suspects in the helmet market all make some wild looking helmet colorways and then the more muted mild colorways. Troy Lee isn’t a monochromatic type of company. I am bored of everything in this industry being black, grey, silver, white and for the wild and crazy…red.
There are plenty of things that show up on bike rumor that I would never buy. But I realize I wasn’t the target consumer for those products so I am not as dismissive.

CHEERS Al!…Cant afford it, dont like it…dont buy it…I dig some flash and i’ll pay for it! Not to mention TLD stuff LASTS! Its quality made..Unlike the $140 GIRO I had to return twice last season! OH FYI I performed CPR on a nurse that crashed on a catwalk hill and smacked the base of her skull! She lived but wouldn’t have if her boyfriend and I weren’t there… I’ll take the lower material!

The constructive design of the helmet seems good however hard to tell what functionality is like before trying so no comments there but… If I was to buy in it’s current form it would prove quite expensive, factoring in a Delorean to take me back to the 70’s where the graphics have apparently been dragged from may prove a budget buster.
Let’s hope TLD have a few toned down options, I’m simply not a ‘look at me everyone’ biker when on the trails…

Just popped back to see when i could get this helmet and saw “Mindless’ comment to me….don’t hate on glitter or ! as they both represent eccentricity and without eccentricity those without it would be left to design the world…how boring it would be!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

About Us

Bikerumor.com is the world’s largest cycling tech blog. Our passion is the products, technology and people that make them. We cover the shiny new things, with in-depth interviews and detailed stories about how the bicycles and components work, plus reviews to see if they live up to the hype. We love learning the technology and celebrating innovation at every level -from crowdfunded start ups to major global brands- and sharing it all here with you!

Want to Contribute?We’re always looking for enthusiastic, positive and talented writers that know their way around both a bicycle and sentence structure. We're also looking for a good Sales person to help grow our business